Land of the Zombies

by Jaime Horio

  I place my hand on Carrie’s shoulder. “We need to do this.”

  “I know. It’s just not fair. He barely got bit, there’s no way he should be dead right now.” She pulls a pistol from her hip.

  “Carrie, it’s ok, I can do this if you want.”

  “No, this is something I need to do. For Greg.”

  She has the gun to his forehead when his eyes flash open. There is a loud bang and he is gone.

  “Did you see that? His eyes opened right as you pulled the trigger. He can’t have been bit more than a half hour ago and he already turned. I don’t know what this means, maybe it was just a one time thing, but we need to keep cautious.”

  I’m not sure what to do with Greg’s body. The island isn’t huge, so we don’t have a ton of space to bury him. And besides, I don’t have a shovel.

  “Julie, go tell Lani what happened. Carrie, you stay here with Greg. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  I hustle down the beach to the boat where we found the first body when we landed on the island. The body is just how we left it. I grab the rope attached to the front of the boat and drag it back to the water. With the boat in the water, I slowly lead it around the island to where Greg’s body is.

  I slide the other body to the side and gently place Greg in the boat. Once the bodies are set, I lead the boat around to the other side of the island, where it is facing toward the opening of the bay. The water is pretty calm inside the bay, so I slide the boat into the water and push it toward the open ocean.

  I go back and drag our boat toward the center of the island. The others are sitting around looking dejected.

  Lani looks around the group. “And then there were four,” she says. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Carrie!” Lani looks horrified at her mistake.

  “No, it’s OK. I know what you meant. It’s like, no matter what happens, people just keep getting taken away from us. Look at this situation, we find a safe place out here, and then you get hurt. We have to hustle out on to an island, and we’re safe, nothing can get to us. But then this happens to Greg. It’s like we have no chance. Even if we find something safe, something else will take it away from us.”

  Everyone is silent. We all know she is right. Everything we’ve been through so far just proves it. We have a safe house, then once we decided to leave was when everything went to hell. We didn’t really have a choice, we did need to find more food and try to find some way to get saved. But as soon as we decided to leave Don dies. We find that school where we should be safe, but Maria is killed. Then we move on and find a safe place with the military post, but that is taken away from us too. Eventually we find another house, and we’re safe there for a few weeks before Rob shows up and we lose Ben.

  I can see that everyone else is thinking about everything that has happened to us. And here we are, just the four of us left now.

  We need to set up some sort of a camp, maybe try to find some wood for a fire, but none of us can seem to find the energy to do it. We just sit around in a circle as the sun goes down.

  No one is interested in talking at this point. We still keep someone on watch, but no one is talking.

  In the morning, I realize we need to get some sort of shelter established. Sleeping under some boats is only a temporary thing. And the last two nights have been cold. We need to gather up some wood to get a fire going.

  Lani is recovering from her head injury, so she volunteers to collect wood. There is a lot of driftwood that has made its way onto the beach of this island, as well as lots of smaller plants that can be used for kindling. Despite all her injuries, she is able to drag the wood back to our little camp.

  Carrie sets about trying to fish. I help her drag one of the boats to the shore so she can go further out into the bay, to get away from the shore. Fishing was one of many things her father taught her, and I couldn’t be more thankful for his knowledge that he passed on to her.

  Julie and I decide to head for shore. After what happened the day before, we are both apprehensive, but we know it’s something we need to do. Being a coastal town, there are a lot of shops designed for tourists. Our first goal is going to be getting into one of these shops to get some sweatshirts and hopefully some blankets.

  We make it to shore quickly and get into one of the shops. I’m filling up large shopping bags with sweatshirts that we can use as blankets and ground cover when Julie comes from a back stock room.

  “Check these out!”

  She’s got a box full of plastic ponchos. “They must have sold these when it started raining. I think we can layer these right to make a sort of roof for our little camp!”

  We peek out the door and when see that it’s clear, we head straight for the boat. Once we are in and heading back to the island, Julie gives me a little high five.

  “We made it out safe, and we got some good supplies. Better than we had expected. We’ve got to take the little victories whenever we can!”

  I manage to force out a little smile. “You’re right. There’s been so much negativity, we do need to focus on a positive when we get one.”

  We get back to shore and find that Lani has managed to gather most of the drift wood on the island. There’s enough for at least a couple of nights. The three of us get started with laying out some of the ponchos and stacking up the wood on top. Then we lay a couple more on top of the wood to keep it dry in case it rains.

  Our next job is to lay out enough ponchos for us to sleep on. We’ve got enough to leave some extra space, so we don’t have strictly sleeping space and nothing else. For the time being, I jam two of the oars from the boats into the sand and we attach the ponchos to these to form the top of our roof. We’ll need to grab some sort of stakes next time we go to shore. Maybe some broom handles will work.

  When Carrie shows up, our shelter is all ready to go. She has 3 fish, plenty to go with what we have to make for a nice meal tonight. Carrie takes care of preparing the fish and getting it over the fire.

  Once again, there is not much conversation. We are all still thinking about what has happened recently.

  Overnight it starts to rain. The plastic roof over us holds up nicely, although we do have a few leaks we need to work on. Ideally though, we need to find some sort of a more permanent shelter.

  In the morning we start going over our options. For the time being, we’ve pretty much set ourselves up with no choice but to stay here. Maybe in time we can clear out the original island and at least reclaim the truck. But for now that’s not an option. There are too many undead on the island, and more are joining them.

  Suddenly I’m hit with an idea. Who says we have to stay here? Surely there are larger boats nearby with living quarters in them. Even if we don’t go anywhere, at least we would have shelter. We could just drop anchor here in the bay and use that as our base of operations.

  I ask Carrie if she knows where we could find some larger boats. The docks are at the southern end of the bay. The way the coast bends and the buildings build along the water are blocking our view.

  I bring up the idea to everyone. “Our biggest issue might be this: do any of you know how to operate a boat?”

  Lani raises her hand. “I’ve rented some before, so I think I could figure it out. As long as we can find a good one!” She seems genuinely excited by the prospect.

  Later that morning Lani and I get into one of the rowboats and head in the direction of the docks. There is a small chunk of land sticking out into the bay with a beautiful hotel perched right at the end.

  “Man, I’d love to stay there,” she says.

  “I bet it was pretty fancy when it was open. Look, all the upper level rooms have a deck.”

  “If this boat thing doesn’t work out, maybe we should check that place out!”

  “Umm, it looks like that might be our next option.”

  The docks are in ruins. The fire damage is everywhere. Most of the boats are gone, either floated away or sunk. We slowly row in closer and it’s clear that a large fire rippe
d through this area.

  “How did this happen?” asks Lani. “It’s right on the water, it’s almost like someone did this on purpose.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe it was on purpose. I mean, we’ve been burning buildings when there are too many of those zombies inside. Or when it’s overrun enough that we don’t want anyone else to risk going there. Maybe that’s what happened here. These boats were all held in so close to each other that I bet the infection spread through here in no time.”

  “Maybe. Well shit. What do we do now?”

  I just stare at the wreckage of the docks. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I let out a heavy sigh.

  “I don’t know, I guess, maybe we should try to sort through it all and see if there’s anything we can salvage. Maybe some of the wood we can use to make a better shelter.”

  As if on cue, the rain starts to fall. Not heavy, but enough to make us both uncomfortable sitting out in the open.

  Looking ahead, I know that there isn’t much that can be salvaged. The wood is all fire damaged or in too small of a piece to be much use. But the biggest deterrent is the undead.

  The noise of the rain hitting the water seems to be drawing them. I hadn’t noticed them on the shore before, they were standing so still. But when the rain started, I saw them start to move around, looking around as if trying to find the source of the noise.

  By the time we get back to the island, the rain is coming down hard. And it’s clear that our little shelter of ponchos is not going to hold.

  We’re huddled under the ponchos, not dry, but at least the warmth is held in. I look to the others.

  “We can’t stay here. We need to get away. And now is the perfect time. Lani, you saw how those things reacted to the rain. The noise is throwing them off. We could try to hurry through right now and they might not pay us any attention.”

  “Jay’s right. This spot is terrible. We need some sort of a stable structure,” says Julie.

  “Then where should we go?” Carrie is on the verge of tears. “Just head to land and find any spot?”

  “Yes,” says Lani. “That makes the most sense. We really can’t stay here, and Jay’s right about those zombies. The rain threw them all off. We should take advantage of this while we can. It definitely beats staying here soaked to the bone.”

  We pack lightly, leaving the plastic ponchos and most of the sweatshirts behind. We take only what we can carry, including our last bags filled with bottled water and the last of the military rations. We squeeze into the boat and make our way toward the shore.

  Once again, we avoid heading straight across. We row our way south and around the docks. Carrie taps me on the shoulder and points up onto the land. I see a car lot, and next to it appears to be a warehouse. I squint in the rain and make out the familiar shapes of bowling pins on the sign.

  “A bowling alley?” I ask?

  “Sure, why not. It’s shelter, and they’re usually wide open, not a lot of tiny rooms to have to sort through!”

  She’s right, with our decimated group this might be the perfect place, at least to get out of the rain.

  I aim for shore and within a few minutes we’re there. The rain is making the water a little rougher closer to shore, but we’re able to make it. I drag the boat up onto the shore and away from the water. Julie shoots me an inquisitive look.

  “Just in case,” I explain.

  We make our way up to the road. The undead are not as thick here, and the rain does seem to be keeping them distracted. They do look at us, but don’t seem to recognize us as anything special. A loud crack of thunder rumbles through the sky and they all start to moan and look around, but can’t find the source of the noise.

  I can’t help but chuckle. This crappy weather is such a burden for us to deal with, but at the same time it’s such a blessing, keeping these undead beasts distracted from us.

  We jog down the street and in a few minutes we’ve made out way to the bowling alley. I try the main door, but it’s locked. We jog to the back of the building, hoping there is another way in.

  We find a service entrance, but it is locked as well.

  “Damn, what do we do?” I look to the others for ideas.

  “We get inside,” says Carrie, and she pulls a pistol from her belt. She aims it at the door handle and blows it out. “Good timing with that thunder,” she says and grins.

  I pull the door open and we make our way in. There is no power, and it is extremely dark. We are in the back part of the alley where all the machinery that makes the lanes work is located.

  “This way.” I can see the light from a bolt of lightning flash at the end of a long hallway. We make our way down the hall toward the main part of the alley, being careful not to trip over various boxes stored along the way.

  At the end, I peek through the door and see the main alley. It looks clear, so I lead the others out. Without anyone else in here, it looks basically like a big warehouse with some seating areas.

  We split into two groups to check the place. Lani and I go to the far end by the main entrance we had tried before. There are a few meeting rooms but they are all clear. We make our way to the center of the alley where we meet the others.

  “Anything?” I ask.

  “Just some offices, the bathrooms. No one around.” Carrie gets a big smile and looks to Julie who is already grinning. “But we did find something else interesting.”

  Before I can ask what they’ve turned around and are walking away. Lani and I follow them through a door and immediately big smiles cross our faces.

  We are standing in what would normally be considered a dark and unpleasant bar, but to the four of us who have been stuck living out of cars and in tents, this is like heaven.

  “You know, I’ve never been a big drinker, but I think that with everything we’ve been through, we all deserve a drink or three!”

  We clear the tables out of one of the meeting rooms to make sleeping space. We change out of the wet clothes we are wearing into some damp clothes we pull out of our bags. In a storage room, we find some table cloths that must have been used at parties. They’re nothing fancy, but they will help keep us warm at night.

  Once we are confident we’ve got our sleeping space set up, it’s time to have a drink. Lani breaks the glass on the front of a vending machine and brings bags of well preserved chips and cookies to the room.

  I bring back a few bottles of various drinks from the bar.

  “Well, I’m sorry that we don’t’ have any ice. Guess we’ll just have to suck it up and find some way to enjoy all this!” The smiles on their faces say that they won’t have a problem with having no ice. “Oh, wait, I’m sorry now. Carrie, I think you’re a little too young for this!” I say with a wink.

  “Ha! Screw you,” she says and playfully punches me in the chest.

  That night we all drink until we are able to forget about the problems we’re facing. We do spend plenty of time remembering the dead and telling stories about Don and Terry and Ben and Maria and Greg, but by the end of the night, we are able to sleep. For the first time in weeks, I am able to sleep more than an hour without waking up, either from a nightmare or from paranoia that I just heard a sound.

  In the morning I wake up to a pounding in my head. As nice as it was to forget about what is happening around us, I’m regretting it now. I scan the room and the others are all still here, sprawled out on the floor.

  A moment of panic hits me. Who was on watch? If we were all asleep, who was looking out for anything coming?

  I shake my head. No, we’re safe here. This building is secure, it’s big and open. Any noise would echo enough for us to hear it, right? And besides, it’s only right that we all got to relax last night. It wouldn’t be right if we were all drinking away while one person had to watch and then stay up all night protecting us.

  But the paranoia that I’ve developed, maybe even a survival instinct, is clearing my head quickly. I go over to the double doors that are keeping us separated fro
m the rest of the building. I crack them just a little and peek out. Nothing. The building is empty, the same as it was when we went to sleep.

  I dig through one of the bags and pull out a bottle of water. I know that we need to preserve what we have, but I down the entire bottle in less than a minute.

  The others are starting to stir. Carrie looks absolutely miserable. I can’t help but chuckle.

  “Ugh. This is what drinking is like? What’s wrong with you people? Why would anyone want to do this?” She looks like a small child who was just forcibly awakened from a nap.

  “Because we know the consequences. And didn’t I say that you were too young for this?”

  She shoots me a dirty look and lays back down. The others are up now also rummaging for some water.

  We eat a little to get our energy moving, and then it’s time to explore this place. It’s definitely dry shelter, but I don’t like how much ground we have to cover. I want to section it off, or at least restrict immediate access to the doors. I also want to find a roof access somewhere. I know that I saw air conditioning units on top of the building, so there has to be a way to get up there. Probably somewhere in the back of the building.

  Lani goes with me to check the back behind the lanes. We turn the corner to head down the long hallway we came through on our way in and freeze.

  The door at the back of the building is open.

  I lean over and whisper to her, “didn’t we close that door?”

  She’s trying to think. “I think so. Maybe. I’m not sure. It was so cold and wet. No, I definitely closed it. But the handle is shot. I just pushed it closed.”

  “OK, it was probably just the wind then, but we better be careful. Let’s go.”

  Moving slowly, we make our way down the hall. We reach the doorway and peer around the corner. It’s dark back here. The sun is shining through the door, but the angle doesn’t allow the light to carry very far. I look out the door and don’t see any of the undead nearby. I’m not sure if that’s a good sign or not.